CARMEL CONVENT

SCHOOL
HISTORY PROJECT

TOPIC: Independence and Partition

Of India
NAME: Aleena May S
CLASS: 10
ROLL NO: 21:
INDEPENDENCE AND PARTITION
OF INDIA
 Growth of British power in India
• In the 18th century the main occupation of the Indian people were
agriculture .
• The weakness of the Mughal rulers gave an opportunity to thr East India
Company to gain control over India.
• The British had come initially to trade in India.
• The East India Company which started initially as a trading company had
by1773 acquired territorial control over Bengal, Bihar and Orissa .
• They gained complete control over the Anglo-Indian trade making them
perhaps the strongest power in India.
 REVOLT OF 1857
• The East India Company was successful in conquering most of the territories in India
by the1850’s and bringing them under its direct rule.
• The disposed rulers were unhappy, therefore the nawabs , kings and chiefs decided to
join hands and made efforts to drive the British out of India.
• The culmination of such opposition to British rule came with the First War or
Independence in 1857,in which millions of peasants , artisans and soldiers
participated .It shook the British government to its very foundation.
• The war brought about far reaching effects on Indian socio-political life. It transferred
the power to govern India from East India Company to British Crown.
• The Governor General’s office was replaced with the Viceroy’s.
• It was the first mass uprising in which all the sections of Indian society participated against
a common enemy “The British”.

• It paved the way for the rise of modern national movement. The sacrifices made by Rani
Laxmi Bai , Nana Saheb and Mangal Pandey served as an inspiration to the people to fight
for the independence of India from the British rule.
 GROWTH OF NATIONALISM
• In India nationalism emerged out of a desire to be free of British
control.
• The precursors for the growth of nationalism are:
1. Political and administrative unification under the Government of
India act of 1857,created political unity in the country.
2. Impact of the revolt of 1857.
3. The spread of western education made Indians aware of the ideals of
Liberty, Fraternity and Equality.
4. Through the press the message of patriotism and modern liberal ideas
of home rule and independence spread among the Indians.
• The Indian National Congress was found by A.O Hume ,a retired English civil
servant on December 28,1885 in consultation with the Indian leaders.
• The chief aims of the Congress were:
1. To promote and consolidate the feeling of national unity.
2. To formulate popular demands and present them before the
government.
3. To bring together leaders from different part of the country.
4. To create public opinion in the country.
• The first session of the Congress was held in 1885 under the presidentship of W.C
Banerjee.
 THE HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL
MOVEMENT CAN BROADLY BE DIVIDED INTO
THREE PHASES:
• The Early Nationalist Phase (1885-1907);
• The Assertive Phase (1907-1916);
• The Gandhian Era (1915-1947);
 FIRST PHASE OF THE
INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT
• In its initial years , the Congress were led by a group drawn from the educated middle
class , known as the Early Nationalists.
• They relied on constitutional and peaceful methods and made use of the 3 p’s i.e
Prayer, Petitions and Protests to achieve their objectives.
• They demanded for reduction in taxes, employment of Indians in higher posts,
protection of civil rights and Indianisation of services.
• They aroused the feeling of one nation and exposed the true nature of British rule in
India.
• Some of the prominent Early Nationalist leaders were Dadabhai Naoroji, Gopal
Krishna Gokhale and Surendranath Banerjee.
 SECOND PHASE OF THE
INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT
• The second phase of the Indian national movement was marked by the emergence within the
Congress a new group of leaders, who did not agree with the methods and ideologies of the
Early Nationalists they were known as Assertive Nationalists.
• The Assertive nationalists arised due to the failure of the Early Nationalists to get anything
substantial from the British Government.
• Their main objective was the immediate attainment of ‘Swaraj’.
• They adopted the methods of Swadeshi, Boycott, National Education and Passive Resistance
to achieve their goals.
• They promoted self reliance through Swadeshi and Boycott movements and brought the
middle class into the national movement.
• Some of the prominent Assertive Nationalist leaders are Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra
Pal and Lala Lajput Rai.
 PARTITION OF BENGAL- (1905)
Lord Curzon the Viceroy of India, in order to weaken the position of the INC adopted the policy of divide
and rule.
• In July 1905,he published the proposal to divide Bengal into two parts, East Bengal (now Bangladesh)and
West Bengal(now Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha).
• The people of Bengal reacted strongly against the partition. October 16,1905 .The day of the partition
was declared “ A Day of National mourning.” all over Bengal.
• The patriotic song “Amar Sonar Bangla”(My Golden Bengal) was
sung by huge crowds parading the streets.
• Hindus and the Muslims tied rakhis on each others wrists as a symbol
of unbreakable unity of Bengalis and the two halves of Bengal.
• The people started a strong movement against the partition, known as the Anti-Partition Movement. The
movement was initiated on August 7,1905.
• The partition of Bengal along with the Anti-partition Movement accelerated the Nationalist Movement by
spreading it among the general masses. The people rose in unity to resist, to suffer and to sacrifice.

.
 SURAT SPLIT(1905)
• The annual session of the Congress in 1907 was held at Surat.
• There were differences in opinions between the
Early Nationalists and the Assertive Nationalists on
Swadeshi and Boycott.
• There was a tussle between the two groups for the
president ship of the National Congress .The
Assertive Nationalists proposed the name of Lala
Lajput Rai whereas the Early Nationalist proposed
the name of Rashbehari Gosh. Finally the Assertive
Nationalists was expelled from the Congress.
• The Surat Split weakened the national movement as it gave an opportunity to the
British to exploit he situation.
 SWADESHI AND BOYCOTT MOVEMENTS
• It was during the partition of Bengal that new methods for struggle were adopted, which
included Swadeshi(‘of one’s own country’)and boycott movements.
• Swadeshi means producing necessary items in one’s own country and
using them for one’s own use without being dependent on
imported goods.
• The Swadeshi idea was popularized with occasional bonfires .
of foreign cloth, sugar and salt .
• Swadeshi and Boycott are two sides of the same coin. When we accept
Swadeshi we must Boycott foreign goods.
• Economic boycott of British goods and use of Swadeshi was designed to encourage
Indian industries and provide the people with more opportunities for employment .
• It also proved as the most weapon for harming British interests in India.
 FORMATION OF MUSLIM LEAGUE- (1906)
• . To create a possible opposition to the Congress by using the Muslims, the
Viceroy, Lord Minto, appointed a committee to work out an expansion of the
Legislative Council This spurred some communal minded Muslims to action. They
decided to present an address to the Viceroy.
• An address was made and a delegation of 35 influential
Muslims headed by Agha Khan, met the Viceroy in Shimla
on October 1,1906 and put forward certain demands .
• The viceroy accepted their demands and the Muslim League, a separate organization of
the Muslims was established in 1906 under the president ship of Nawab Salimullah of
Dhaka.
• It aimed at protecting and advancing the political rights and interests of the Muslims.
• The Muslim League raised the demand for Pakistan .
 MORLEY MINTO REFORMS (1909)
• The British passed the Indian Councils Act of 1909which was known as the Morley
Minto Reforms.
• To create disunity among the Hindus and Muslims the act Act
introduced the system of communal electorates.
• The Act increased the number of elected members in the
Central and Provincial Legislative Councils.
• The British were partially successful in achieving their goals
which was to divide the nationalists, to check the growth of
unity among the Indians and to create differences
between the Hindus and Muslims.
 HOME RULE MOVEMENT (1916)
• The Indian leaders decided that they would support tat they would support the
British government with men and money, provided the government allowed the
establishment of self-government.
• They started an agitation for the introduction of self
government or Home Rule.
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak formed the Home Rule League.
• Another prominent leader of the league was an Irish
lady Annie Besant, who had come to India in 1893, and
had become the member of Theosophical Society. It was the result of her efforts
that the moderates and the radicals were reunited in 1916.
 LUCKNOW PACT (1916)
• The join scheme of political reforms agreed by both the Congress and the Muslim
League in 1916 is known as the Lucknow Pact.
• The change of the attitude of the Muslims towards the British due to the pro-Turkey
and pro-Caliph issues led to the agreement of the Lucknow Pact
• It forged the unity between the Hindus and the Muslims as well as between two
fractions of the Congress.
• The unity between the two communities persuaded the British to introduce some
reforms. So to pacify the Indians a declaration was made on August 20,1917 which
promised a policy of gradual development of self-government institutions in India.
 GHANDHIJI’S ADVENT INTO
INDIAN POLITICS
• One of the mot prominent leaders of Indian politics was Mohandas Karma Chand Gandhi.
• Born on October 2,1869, in Gujarat he proceeded to England in in in 1888, to study law. In May 1893, he
left for South Africa and and practiced law there. It was in the course of resistance
resistance against the oppressive policies of the Whites there, that he first used
first used his new political weapon which was known as ‘Satyagraha’. graha.
• Gandhi returned to India in 1915 and involved himself in the struggle
against the British .(In Bihar, he took up the cause for the poor peasants
against the oppression of indigo planters. In Ahmedabad he took up
the cause of the textile workers who were demanding for a rise in wages.
• Due to his success in these local movements, Gandhiji became the undisputed leader of the Indian
people. Gandhiji infused in the masses, a spirit of fearlessness and the will to stand against any repression,
whether it was imprisonment, lathi charge or fighting.
 ROWLATT ACT -(1919)
• The British realized that the Montagu-Chelmsford report had not come up to the
expectations of the people. Expecting agitation in the country, they passed the
Rowlatt Act in March 1919.
• This act empowered the government to arrest anyone without a warrant and imprison
anyone without a trial. The Act implied:
1. Arrest of a person without a warrant.
2. In camera trial(trial in seclusion).
3. Restrictions and movements of individuals.
4. Suspension of the Right of Habeas Corpus.
• The Congress condemned the government. People began to organize meetings
against this Act .
 JALLIANWALA BAGH MASSACRE(1919)
• On April 13,1919, a public meeting was held in Jallianwala Bagh in protest against the arrest
of two leaders, Dr. Satya Pal and Dr.Saifuddin Kitchlew .
• An unarmed crowd of men, women and children had gathered to attend the the
meeting.
• No sooner had the meeting begun, General Dyer a British military officer,
arrived on the spot with his troops, at the entrance of the Bagh and without
without any warning, ordered the troops to fire upon the crowd. crowd.
• The firing continued for ten minutes. Nobody could escape as the only exit had
had been blocked.
• Nearly a thousand people died, while many were injured. The
conscience of the nation was shaken to the massacre of innocent
people.
• After the massacre the British government made a half –hearted
attempt at constitutional reform.
 KHILAFAT MOVEMENT
• Khilafat Movement was started by Ali Brothers in August 1920 .
• It was started for the preservation of the office of Khilafa, the religious head of the
Muslims and the atrocities committed by the British in Turkey.
• The khilafatists formed a three point programme.
1. The Ottoman Caliph should retain his empire.
2. The Caliph must be left with sufficient territory to enable
him to defend the Islamic faith .
3. The Arab land must remain under the Muslim rule.
• Khilafat Movement gave a call for non-cooperation.
• Gandhiji saw in the Khilafat movement an opportunity for
uniting the Hindus and Muslims. Thus he combined the
Khilafat and non cooperation movement.
 NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT
• In 1920 Gandhiji gave the call of ‘Non-Cooperation’.
• He advised the people not to cooperate with the British, with the view to bring
administration to a standstill.
• The movement evoked great response. Many Indians returned
their titles, decrees, awards and honors. Thousands of Indians
left their Government jobs. The idea of Swadeshi and use of
Khadi gained popularity.
• The movement inn stilled new confidence among the people and
made it a mass movement.
• It transferred the Congress from a deliberative assembly into a moral fighting force.
• It also shattered the myth that the British rule was for the betterment of the Indians. .
 CHAURI CHAURA(1922)
• The Non-Cooperation movement was a great success .
• The movement was in full swing when in Chauri chaura, Ghorakhpur, on
February 5,1922, the police fired upon a Congress
procession of 3,300 peasants. The angry crowd
set the police station on fire killing 22 policemen .
• Gandhiji, a believer in ‘Ahimsa’ was greatly shocked
at these incidents and he withdrew the Non-cooperation
Movement on February 12,1922.
• The calling of the movement ended one more phase of the national
movement.
 THE SIMON COMMISSION(1927)
• In November 1927, the British Government appointed the Indian Simon Commission to
investigate the need for constitutional reforms.
• The commission was composed of seven British members of Parliament but it did not include a
single Indian member.
• This was seen as a violation of the principle of self
determination and deliberate insult to the self-respect of the
Indians.
• The appointment of the commission sparkled of a
wave of protest all over the country. The Congress
and the Muslim League decided to Boycott the commission.
movement.
• The commission arrived in India on 3 February 1928.
There were hartals all over the country and meetings
were held condemning the appointment of the
commission. Slogans of ‘Simon Go Back’ were raised.
• In Punjab a possession led by Lala Lajput Rai was lathi
charged and he received a fatal blow.
 CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT
• The Congress Working Committee met in February 1930 at Sabarmathi Asharam and vested
in Gandhiji, powers to launch the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• The causes for the rise of this movement was the formation of the Simon Commission and
the demand for Poorna Swaraj.
• Before starting the movement, Gandhiji served on the British government a “Eleven Point
Ultimatum". After waiting in vain for the government response to his ultimatum, Gandhiji
started the movement with his famous Dandi March on March 12,1930.
• The movement included:
1. Defiance of salt laws,
2. Boycott of liquor,
3. Boycott of foreign cloth and British goods of all kinds and
4. Non payment of taxes and revenues .
 DANDI MARCH (1930)
• Gandhiji launched the Civil Disobedience Movement and on 12 March, 1930, he set
off from his Sabarmathi Ashram at Ahmedabad with 78 chosen followers of Dandi,
which was 375 km from Ahmedabad on the coast of Gujarat to break the Salt law.
• It was an illegal act because salt making was a
government monopoly and salt making was banned
by law.
• Gandhiji had selected to violate the Salt Law as the
salt tax affected every sections of the society,
especially the poor.
• Gandhiji’ s breaking of the Salt Law’s marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience
Movement.
 ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE(1930,1931)
• The Indian Round Table Conference held three sessions which are also referred to as
the First, Second and Third Round Table Conferences.
• The first was held in London. The Congress did not
participate in it The were unhappy of the of the report
of Simon Commission and Boycotted the conference.
• The second was held in London in September 1931 and
lasted for about three months. Mahatma Gandhi
participated in it as the sole representative of the
Congress.
• The third was attended by 46 delegates . The Indian National Congress reused to
attend the conference . Mahatma Gandhi participated in it and earned seats for the
depressed classes in the Provincial Legislature.
 CRIPPS MISSION(1942)
• Japan’s sensational victories in the opening months of 1942 obliged the British
government to resolve the political deadlock in India.
• Sir Stafford Cripps visited India in March 1942 and proposed following constitutional
reforms:
• India would be given Dominion Status when the War would
end.
• There would be a federation of British India and Indian states.
• Provisions would be made for the protection of the racial and religious minorities.
• During the critical years of the war the power of Viceroy would
remain as hitherto he would be responsible for the defence of the d
country.
 QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT(1942)
• The failure of the Cripps Mission led to another great mass movement for freedom known
as the Quit India Movement.
• It was adopted at Wardha in July 1942.The all India
Congress Committee ratified it on August 8,1942 at
Mumbai.
• Gandhiji gave the mantra “Do or Die”.
• The British put down the movement with ruthless
brutality. Gandhiji and other important leaders were
arrested . The Congress was declared illegal.
• It was estimated that about 30 lakh people died due to famine and repressive measures of
the government.
• The movement strengthened the Congress socialist party because of its heroic role in the
movement.
 INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY(1939)
• The Indian National Army was led by Subash Chandra Bose in cooperation with the
Japanese Army.
• Due to difference of opinion with Gandhiji he quit the Congress
and formed a new political party called the Forward Block.
• He declared war on Britain and the USA and acquired its first
stretch of territory in India when Japan handed over the
Andaman and Nicobar islands.
• The INA gave a tough fight to the British forces in the Assam
hills and succeeded in capturing Ukhral and Kohima .
However the surrender of Japan in the Second World War
sealed the fate of the INA.
• The INA set an inspiring example of patriotism.
 CABINET MISSION(1946)
• In March 1946, Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister of England sent a
Cabinet Mission to India. It included Pethic Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps
and A.V Alexander.
• The objective of the mission was to help India achieve her independence
and to set up a Constituent Assembly to prepare a constitution for India.
• The Congress accepted the Cabinet Mission Plan with reservations It
accepted only the part of the scheme which dealt with Constitution
making.
• The Muslims accepted it as it felt that the grouping of the grouping of
the Muslim majority provinces in a way meant the formation of Pakistan.
THE INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT(1947)
• On the basis of the Mount Batten plan, the Indian Independence Bill was passed by
the British Parliament on July 1,1947.
• This Act marked:
• The end of British rule in India and
• The formation of two independent and Sovereign States namely
India and Pakistan..
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